What is RelyLocal?
A healthy community depends on a healthy economy, and both completely depend on the local businesses in Racine and Kenosha! There are a number of great studies out there that illustrate how shopping locally will stimulate the Racine and Kenosha economies.
Simply put, more money spent with local businesses stays here (about 68%), where much less money spent with national chains stays in the area (only about 14%), and money spent online... well... simply leaves. Forever.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

1. Local Character and ProsperityIn an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage.2. Community Well-BeingLocally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, linking neighbors in a web of economic and social relationships, and contributing to local causes.3. Local Decision-MakingLocal ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.4. Keeping Dollars in the Local EconomyCompared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community.5. Job and WagesLocally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.6. EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship fuels America’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.7. Public Benefits and CostsLocal stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls.8. Environmental SustainabilityLocal stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers-which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.9. Competition
A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.10. Product Diversity
A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
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This list comes from Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the New Rules Project (www.newrules.org), a national nonprofit initiative that advises communities on strategies and policies to strengthen independent businesses.

About Me

A healthy community depends on a healthy economy, and both completely depend on the local businesses in Racine & Kenosha! There are a number of great studies out there that illustrate how shopping locally will stimulate the Racine & Kenosha economies.

Simply put, more money spent with local businesses stays here (about 68%), where much less money spent with national chains stays in the area (only about 14%), and money spent online... well... simply leaves. Forever.